7 of us from the Mountaineers CHS-1 cohort headed up the trail at 7:10 on an overcast but dry Saturday morning. I-90 at I-5 was closed so we lost a little time backtracking to 520, but coming back (despite Husky graduation traffic northbound I-5 causing some congestion) we were able to take I-90 westbound without too much delay. It pays to use your GPS or look up road closures to avoid unexpected surprises.
The latrine had plenty of TP, and the parking lot was about 1/4 full. Northwest Forest Pass is required, not the Discover Pass.
By the time we returned to the parking lot at 12:15, a line of cars extended well beyond the lot; the road parking by Mailbox was INSANE. Pretty much every parking lot between Garfield Ledges and Mailbox was full. I haven't hiked on a summer weekend in over three years so I was totally shocked to see just how popular the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie has become on a Saturday morning. I'll stick to mid-week mornings from now on.
However, it didn't feel that busy as we hiked, perhaps from starting so early (by design!) We encountered a few hikers and trail runners as we made our way (at an average 2.5 mph pace throughout) to Big Creek Falls and then backtracked to Otter Falls.
The trail is in amazing condition - the very gentle grade made for brisk comfortable walking under overcast skies. Salmonberries are abundant, and bleeding hearts and astilbe (sp?) are in bloom. I suggested my students all bring gators and trekking poles for the stream crossings, but the water in all beds is low enough we had zero difficulty and I didn't use my poles.
We saw one mountain biker who said he didn't realize how rocky the trail is. Several climbers were heading in to climb the waterfall (Poppy's Peril, they called it) which was cool to watch while we had an early lunch.
On the morning (4:11 moving time with 35 minutes at the lake) we heard 18 bird species including all four thrushes, a hairy woodpecker, several warblers and a pileated woodpecker among them, as well as a large number of Pacific wrens serenading us.
I was excited to check out the brand-new trail up to Otter Falls. In a word? WOW. While it looks like it will take a while for nature to reclaim all the wood that's been removed, the trail is in A-MA-ZING shape and MANY thanks for the multiple weeks and hours of trail work that must have been spent creating that gently-graded slope. I don't think I've seen fresh "blue granite" before from rocks that have been split, quite astonishing to think of the sweat and tears that went into creating it. Thanks to WTA or whoever worked on it early this year, SUPERB JOB. And the LADDER STAIRS!! Brilliant!! Bravo!
We had the lake to ourselves (except for a pair of climbers) between 950-1025 once 5 people/1 dog headed out. We saw 12-15 dogs on the morning, maybe 35-40 people, 1 biker, but the large number of cars indicated there may have been many more enjoying off-shoot trails all along the path.
All in all a highly enjoyable outing made even better because I was expecting a 1.5-2 mph pace and everyone was totally comfortable at 2.5 mph. That meant getting back and having a half day to do other things. Bonus!
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